Machine for straightening shaped wires



April 10, 1956 Filed Jun" 9, 1950 W. SIEGERIST MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENINGSHAPED WIRES 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.

INVENTORZ WALTER SIEGERIST,

5% Me a/149W ATTORNEYS.

A ril 10, 1956 w. SIEGERIST 2,741,293

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING SHAPED WIRES Filed June 9, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet2 FIG. 6. FIG. 3.

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FIG, 5

INVENTORI WALTER SIEGERIST;

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING SHAPED wmEs WalterSiegerist, University City, Mo., assignor, by mesne assignments, toBlaw-Knox Company, Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Delaware ApplicationJune 9, 1950, Serial No. 167,095

Claims. (Cl. 153-98) This invention relates to straightening machinesand is particularly directed to a rotary type machine for straighteningwires or rods of varying cross sectional outlines or shapes.

The primary object of the invention is to produce a rotary wire or rodstraightening machine capable of working on a wide variety of wire orrod shapes without any major alterations in the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rotary typestraightening machine which reduces operational hazards to the operatorby eliminating or reducing the turning torque on the workpiece.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rotary type wire or rodstraightening machine for imposing on the work a succession of bendingactions progressively reversed from a positive maximum to a negativemaximum in each 180 of straightener rotation and in decreasing amountsas the wire or rod is passed through the straightening machine.

The invention consists in the provision of a suitable housing having aplurality of adjustably mounted radially disposed yokes therein, each ofwhich rotatably supports a die through which the stock to bestraightened passes, the dies being supported in bearings and the yokesadjusted so that decreasing amounts of bending pressure are applied tothe stock as it passes through the dies, the dies having openings of thesame outline as the wire or rod to be straightened.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing the essential elements forstraightening wire or rod stock, the path of the work being exaggeratedto illustrate the action which takes place.

Fig. 2 is an eleyational view of a rotary spinner embodying theinvention,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig.2,

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a straighteningdie supporting yoke for .the spinner,

Fig. 5 is a plan view thereof,

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the yoke adjusting mechanism; and

Fig. 7 is a greatly exaggerated schematic view of thedie arrangement.

The wire straighteners that heretofore have been used were operated inconnection with the straightening of smooth surface wires. Thesemachines consist of a combination of input and output feeding rolls,spinner frame in which there are stationary dies engaging a fraction ofthe surface of the workpiece. These dies are displaced with reference tothe axis of the workpiece so that a sinuous shape is imposed on it inone plane. The spinner rotates about the workpiece axis as the workpieceis fed through the spinner between the input and output feeding rolls.In the machines now in use it is necessary to feed the entering end ofthe wire from the coil through the spinner by either pointing the wireso that it will thread itself thro g the dies or, as i m re of n done, aconsiderably smaller diameter wire of a length greater than the overalllength of the spinner is welded to the end of the workpiece. This smallwire is threaded through the spinner very easily because thedisplacement to produce the sinuous shape of the wire does not exceedthe wire diameter as a measure of the amplitude of the sine curve.

Another method of threading the end of the workpiece through the spinnerthat is often used is to back off each one of the dies so that they donot touch the workpiece, thereby making it possible tothread theworkpiece through the spinner. After the workpiece has been threadedthrough the spinner in this manner the dies are then reset to correspondto the requirements "of the diameter of the workpiece and the nature ofthe material being straightened. All of these methods have aconsiderable disadvantage of being very time consuming and they producean end that is not straightened.

All of the wire straighteners now in use also require that when the tailend of the coil comes along, it is necessary to again stop the machineand cut this end off and pull it out of the machine by reversing thefeed rolls or by opening the feed rolls and pulling it out by hand. Itis obvious that the conventional solid die type of'spinner straighteningmachine exerts a torque equal to the torque required for thestraightening plus the much greater torque due to the friction of thedies on the surface of the work piece. Consequently, the work must bestopped at the point where the tail end of the coil starts to twist oras the shop men term it propeller." The bent end is required to keep thework from twisting.

The invention is embodied in the structure shown in Fig. 1 of thedrawings wherein the numeral 1 designates a reel on which the stock tobe straightened is wound. The stock is then led through a series of feedrolls '2, through a straightening mechanism 3, through a second set offeed rolls 4, and finally through a cut-off mechanism 5. The feed rolls2 and 4 are driven at such 'a rate that rolls 2 will act to pushthe'stock through the straightening mechanism, rolls 4 acting to pullthereon. These rolls operate in a timed sequence with the cut-offmechanism so that predetermined uniform lengths are cut from the stock.

The straightening mechanism .is more particularly rillustrated in Figs.2 through 6 and consists .of a :pairof brackets '6 mounted on a suitablemachine frame {not shown). Each of these brackets is machined to receive:an antifriction bearing 7 that is held therein. The bearings 7rotatably support acylindrical housing 8 prow'dedwith a plurality ofuniformly spaced diametric apertures or pockets 9 which open outwardlyof the housing, as shown in Fig. 3. A die holding yoke 10 is mounted ineach of the apertures or pockets. Since each yoke is similar, adescription of one will be understood to refer to each thereof. The yokeconsists of a cylindrical body portion 11 having integral shanks 12 and13. The yoke is located in pocket of aperture 9 and shank 13 projectsfrom the small diametered opening at one side of the housing 8. Theshank 13 is keyed into this pocket opening (Figs. 2 and 5) and isprovided with a plurality of uniform rings 14 at its outer extremity.These rings serve as indicators to the operator by informing him of thedistance the axis of the body portion 11 is displaced from thelongitudinal axis of the cylindrical housing 8. The shank 12 is held inthe enlarged opening for the pocket or aperture 9 by a plate 15 securedtherein by suitable fastening means. This shank 12 is threaded on anadjusting sleeve 16' free to turn in plate 15, but held in fixedposition by a jamb nut 16. The sleeve 16 is provided for adjusting theradial position of the body portion of the yoke with respect to thehousing. Wear rings i7 are interposed .between the plate 15 and the jambnut 16 and between the plate and the inner flanged end of the sleeve16'. ,A lu- V V i bricant is supplied to the bearing through a suitablefitting screwed into the shank 13.

An antifriction or other type bearing 18 is secured in the body portionll of the yoke, and a die 19 is mounted in the inner raceway of thebearing 18. These dies may be readily removed from the inner raceways ofthe bearing 18 so that a different set of dies may be installed, thuspermitting the machine to readily change over for operating on varioussize stock.

'The die 19 rotates relative to the housing 8 and has an opening orpassageway therein of the same shape as the cross section of the stockto be straightened. The stock does not rotate as it passes through thedies and frictional 'lycontacts the dies, thereby causing them and theinner bearing raceway to be held stationary. The die opening is of alength to give a satisfactory contact with a work- 7 piece having asmooth surface. The'rnachine can also be used for straightening stockhaving a deformed surface. In the latter use. the dies must have athroat length that exceeds the greatest distance between the deformedprojections on the workpiece surface. The die throat need only have asuitable length for a smooth wire but is critical when a bar havingdeformations therein is to be straightened. .The opening in the die isalways equal to or may be slightly greater than the maximum section of.

the stock. 7

A pulley 20 is secured to a shaft 21 integral With the housing 8 and isdriven at a high rate of speed by its own prime mover. The housing 8 maybe driven by the motor which drives the feed rolls, if desired. Thecover 22 encloses housing 8 and is locked in closed position by alatching means 23.

, A die assembly, similar to that described above, is located in each ofthe pockets 9 in housing 8. Each yoke is ofliset with respect to eachother so that a plurality of bending actions is imposed on the stock asit passes through the straightening device. Under some conditions, allyokes need not'be offset because some wires or rods can be straightenedwith fewer yokes. It is onlynecessary to employ a minimum number ofoffsets for any given stock. The degree of offset decreases as the stockcon tinues its motion through the housing 8. The feed rolls.

2 impose a small amount of'bending on the stock prior 2 a .topresentation to the straightening machine. The feed rolls present theend of the workpiece taken from the coil to the stationary threading die(not shown) on the incoming end of the rotating spinner. The spinnerdies preferably have their large diameter openings facing the incomingend of the workpiece. These large diameter openings guide the incomingend of the workpiece through the throat of each die as the spinnerrotates. The large diameter opening for the dies should have a sizesufficient to assure that they register more or less with the housingbore in all adjusted positions, thereby to provide the guide action uponthe stock and direct the stock into the dies and through the housing. IThe dies impose a bending action on the stock as the housing rotates.This bending action is progressively reversed from a plus maximum to aminus maximum during each 180 of rotation, depending upon the materialbeing straightened. This action is repeated between each successive dieso that the number of plus and minus bends is a function of the speed ofrotation of the housing 8 and the linear velocity of the stock as itpasses through the straightening machine. A high rate of housingrotation'and a low rate of feeding produces a large number of bendingalterations for each unitlength of wire, thus resulting in a straighterpiece of stock while a reduced housing speed and an increased stock feedsubjects it to fewer bends per unit of length. The dies 19 remainstationary as the housing rotates.

Tubular stock may be'straightened in the above described mechanism aswell as deformed concrete reinforcing bars and similarly constructedelongated stock. In

tail end of the workpiece preparatory to threading the next coil to bestraightened. This has the etfect of saving time and particularly thesaving of material because the unstraightened entering end andunstraightened tail end produced when conventional Wire straightenersare used, must be scrapped.

What I claim is:

l. A machine for straightening elongated stock comprising a cylindricalhousing provided with a bore open at both ends and a plurality ofaxially spaced pockets intersecting said bore and opening from saidhousing, means supporting said housing for rotation about thelongitudinal axis of said bore, means for rotating said housing, a yokein each said pocket, "means for radially adjustably mounting each yokein each pocket, yoke extensions exposed to indicate the extent of radialadjustment of said yokes, a bearing in each yoke; and a die in eachbearing, each die having a cylindrical throat and an enlarged flaredinlet portion acting as a guide through which the stock passes to saidthroat, said enlarged flared inlet 'portion registering more or lesswith said housing bore in all positions of adjustment of said yoke.

' 2. A. straightening machine for elongated stock comprising anelongated cylindrical housing having a central bore and plurality ofaxially spaced pockets intersecting said yokes in adjusted positiontransversely of the housing bore, a bearing in each yoke, and a die ineach bearing, each die provided with an enlarged flared stock receivingopening and a relatively reduced cylindrical throat portion, said stockreceiving opening being adapted for registering with the housing bore inall adjusted positions of said yoke transversely of the housing bore. a

' 3. A straightening machine for elongated stockcomprising a housinghaving a longitudinal bore and also provided with a plurality ofuniformly spaced pockets opening across the housing bore and havinglarge and small openings, bearing means supporting said housing forrotation about the longitudinal axis of said bore, a yoke in 7 eachpocket, each yoke having a threaded extension in the large'pocketopening and a cylindrical extension in the a small pocket opening,threaded means in the large pocket opening connected with said threadedyoke extension for.

adjustably mounting each yoke in each pocket, rings on the cylindricalextension for each yoke, said rings being relatively exposed forindicating the position of adjustment of the yoke in its pocket, abearing in each yoke, and a die in each bearing, each die having an opencylindrical throat and an enlarged flared entrance more or lesspresented in the housing bore for adjusted positions of said yoke.

4. A straightening machine for deformed elongated stock, said machinecomprising: a housing having a bore open at both ends through which thestock to be straightened passes, and a plurality of pockets formed insaid housing in spaced relation with each pocket being directed normalto the housing bore and having lateral openings; bearing meanssupporting said housing for rotation about the axis of the housing bore;a yoke adjustably mounted in each housing pocket, each yoke havingextension portions located in the lateral openings of the pockets, oneof said portions being exposed for indicating the adjustment of saidyoke normal to the housing bore; threaded means secured in each pocketengaging the yoke therein for fixing the adjusted position thereof; anda die carried in each said yoke, each die having a stock receivingaperture therein and a flared portion at the stock entering side of saidstock receiving aperture, said flared portion converging toward saidstock aperture and registering more or less with said housing bore onadjustment of said yoke normal to said housing bore.

5. A machine for straightening elongated stock comprising a rotaryhousing having a through opening con centric with the axis of housingrotation to pass the stock to be straightened, said housing havingaxially spaced apertures intersecting the housing through opening, a dieholder yoke in each aperture radially adjustably movable relative to thehousing axis, means connected with each of said yokes and located insaid apertures to effect selective adjustment of said yokes to radiallyoffset positions relative to the axis of said housmg, a bearing in eachyoke retained by said yoke with its axis of rotation substantiallyparallel with the housing axis, a die in each bearing, each die having acylindrical throat and an enlarged inlet portion converging toward saidcylindrical throat, said enlarged inlet portion registering with saidhousing through opening in all adjusted positions of said yoke to guidestock toward said throat, and other means movable with each of saidyokes and extending from said yoke apertures to an exposed position toindicatethe adjustment of said yoke radially of the housing throughopenmg.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS617,223 Brightmann Jan. 3, 1899 FOREIGN PATENTS 9,268 Great Britain 1900481,083 France Apr. 5, 1916 581,749 France Oct. 2, 1924

